Super Friends!
The Super Friends! is a DC Comics franchise created by Gardner Fox, William Hanna, Joe Barbara and Alex Toth. It was based on the Justice League of America from DC Comics. It began as an animated series that ran from 1973-1985 under a variety of titles. The franchise also gave birth to many products and spin-off shows and television commercials. Among the most popular products, was the toys, such as the Super Powers Collection; and the books, such as the comic book series. Genesis of the Super Friends The roots of the Super Friends! franchise can be traced back to the '60s Filmation cartoons, such as The New Adventures of Superman, The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure and The Batman/Superman Hour, all of which served as preludes to the Super Friends!, as they clearly had some of the same voice actors, such as Ted Knight, Olan Soule and Casey Kasem, who would reprise their roles for the Superfriends, suggesting that they are part of the same universe. Super Friends as a brand The Super Friends! name became a brand throughout the 1970s and on into the present. Sometimes it is presented as Super Friends!, but also Superfriends, Super Friends and Super-Friends. Other names used to license the brand was Super Amigos, Super Powers, Super Heroes and DC Super Friends. For the most part, the continuity of the franchise was set in the fictional universe known as Earth-1A, however this varied.For example, the DC Super Friends brand from Fisher-Price was clearly part of a different universe, possibly the same universe that The Joker's Playhouse was part of. However the 2015 series was also part of a completely different universe as well. Spin-off material and other shows in the Super Friends! universe Although mostly conjecture, this wiki treats other DC Comics animated and live-action productions from Filmation and Ruby-Spears as part of the Super Friends universe, as well as DIC Entertainment's Swamp Thing. The Wildstorm Productions are also considered part of, if not the universe itself, at least part of the multiverse. In the Gen¹³ film the Super Friends are referenced, implying they exist in that universe, but it's impossible to know for sure if it was supposed to be the Earth-1A Super Friends or not. Furthermore, despite they were mentioned by the name "Superfriends," it's not entirely certain if real people were being referenced or fictional characters. Nevertheless, the simple reference is enough for them to be considered part of the franchise at least, after all Wildstorm was owned by DC Comics even when the film was released.Although it should be noted that at the time the film was released in 2000, the Wildstorm Universe was still its' own world and hadn't yet merged with the greater DC Universe. This didn't happen until 2011. Still, this wiki isn't bound by the way things were in the comics at the time, as they are not canon from the perspective of the Super Friends. References External Link *Super Friends! at the DC Database